I woke up to the red dawn with tears streaming down my cheeks. For the first time I realized what it meant to sleep. To be given a moment to take a breath, to even dream. To wake up refreshed.

This was none of this. It was all quantitative numbers of sanity filling back up to the quarter mark. My stamina returning. The existential dread of a monotony that was not of my own choosing. I did not feel refreshed. I wasn’t ready to tackle another day.

I stared at my sanity meter. How low did my sanity get last night to only fill up to the quarter mark?

My body was curled in a fetal position, the exhaustion of last night hitting me. Killie was curled up next to me, purring softly. I closed my eyes again, listening to her purrs. Trying to will myself to be calmer. I don’t think I ever would. I didn’t have any health points, I had sanity. And that growl, that bellow, almost killed me.

I shuddered again at the too recent memory of it all. Things were going to be hard with only a quarter of sanity, but I pulled myself out of bed.

I stumbled into the kitchen, seeing the light blinking, and I listened to the messages.

“They left, but they will come again. When, only you can find out-” My eyes flickered to the calendar. “-but they will come back stronger. They evolve, they adapt. It is up to you to make sure your house is protected enough when they come a second time.

“Your to-do list will now be after every time they attack, and you may finish it at your own pace. But that is a pace we suggest you do as quickly as possible. It will only help you.”

“But what am I supposed to do? What is the endgame?”

“Purchase the second article of clothing from the building section

“Repair the damages to the fence

“Make bricks

“Build a brick wall around both fences

“Upgrade your axe

“Finish decluttering the first floor of your home

“Now that you have longer to finish your to-do list, you will not be allowed to go to sleep for one hour past sundown until you complete it.”

“No!” It was an instinctual reaction. “Please. I only have a quarter sanity!”

The phone beeped, and I felt nauseous. Killie walked in, still a kitten, but a far older kitten. She purred as she rubbed her body against my legs, and I remembered last night before they arrived. Killie managed to save my sanity, which was a lifesaver, because if I had a quarter of it now, I might have…

What happened to me when my sanity was gone? Was it like hit points? Did I die? I honestly hoped I never found out.

I tore the to-do list, telling myself that tonight was the night I sleep in my pajamas to see if it gave me any sort of bonus.

I had five days until they arrived. It seemed so much less time, and the to-do list seemed short, yet monotonous.

The shadows in the kitchen flickered, and a ghoulish smile appeared in the corner of my eye. I jumped, scrambling back as I stared at the corner. There was nothing there. Just shadow. I dug my palm into my forehead, groaning. This must be what it’s like to have a quarter sanity. It was all going to be in my head. At least that’s what I had to tell myself. My heart was still racing and my adrenaline was pumping. Might as well put those to good use.

You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.

I picked up the clipboard and saw I couldn’t buy a second building clothing until I reached level five. I flipped over to my progress, and it showed me at level four in building. I was almost there. A few more boards in the chicken coop would help, no doubt.

With a sigh, I walked out of the house and crept over to the garage. I had to see the damage from last night. I needed to know why there was such a loud bellow.

The fence was broken. I stepped closer, feeling nauseous as I saw a reddish black tar. I remained frozen in spot. Was this something I had to clean? The thought of it made me sick. I didn’t want this.

I backed away before turning and running away. Technically I had five more days to deal with this. I could deal with this another day.

I did my morning routine now of picking the tomatoes and watering them. The potatoes looked like they would need another day of watering, which was fine. They were still growing at an insane speed.

Once the tomatoes were in the storage room, I checked the clipboard again to see that upgrading my axe would take 0/10 stones and 50.00 dopamine points. It was my only weapon. Even though I was completely useless last night, if something bad happened, I needed some way to protect myself.

Purchase upgraded axe?

Y/N

I didn’t have everything, but I had the ten stones in the storage room. I would hold off for now, just in case.

For now, I went outside, the mid-morning heating up. Despite it being summer for seven days already, this was the first time that the heat was almost too much. I walked outside with my axe and gave the tree a whack, but I watched in horror as a huge chunk of my stamina disappeared.

“Whoa, whoa, wait,” I said. “What’s…”

Sweat appeared on my forehead. The sun was in the hazy sky, beating down. Almost twenty-five percent of my stamina disappeared from one axe hit of the tree. That was way more stamina than I was willing to give up. What was going on?

I stumbled back inside, wiping sweat off my face. Today was hot. Unusually hot. That much I could figure out. Once I was back inside the cooler house, the sweat disappeared from my face. This was one of those things where weather was affecting how I performed my tasks, meaning it would take a larger amount of stamina.

I took out my to-do list, most of it dealing with stuff outside. Perfect. Well, for now I could finish decluttering the living room and the entertainment room.

As I headed toward the door into the living room, I saw the calendar. I paused, then squinted. There was an image of a sun on today. An unusually hotter day. There had to be some way to combat this, though. There usually was always a way in these games.

I thought about it as I gathered more clutter into a bag. Decluttering the first floor was something I needed to do on the list.

I gathered the bag full of junk and carried it outside. The moment I left the shade, the overwhelming heat hit me again. Beads of sweat formed on my head, and the stamina started to trickle away.

“Seriously?” I asked before tossing the bag in the dumpster. Something would have to be done about this.

I hurried back into the cool of the house, and gathered all the clutter into bags, placing them outside on the porch as I picked my brain.

There had to be some sort of food. If there was food to help with stamina, there had to be some that protected from heat.

I sighed, leaning against the wall. The shadows started to shift and change, causing me to slip outside again. I didn’t want to see them. I was terrified they would change into something that I couldn’t handle. Killie didn’t notice the shadows, so it was all in my head. All something that had to do with being at twenty-five percent sanity.

I was out on the front porch in the shade, rubbing my arms. Soup was not going to help me in the heat. Most of the stuff I had in my food storage room wasn’t going to help. If it was going to be food, it would have to be something cold. Something like…

Milk?

I glanced through the window again. I could see through the living room into the kitchen. It was crazy enough to try, and I needed to try something.

I held my breath as I walked inside and got to the fridge and poured myself a small glass of milk. I downed it in one swallow, then saw a timer right below the stamina.

Ten minutes. I had ten minutes that I hoped meant I could be out in the blistering heat.

I rushed out of the house that was starting to have twisting shadows and grabbed as many bags as my stamina would allow before dropping them into the dumpster. It worked. A glass of milk would get me ten minutes in the hot sun.

I pushed through, taking multiple trips to get all those bags into the dumpster. I felt relieved when the final bag dropped into the dumpster. Without missing a beat, I pulled out the axe, ready to chop down a tree with the minute and a half I had left when words popped into my vision.

Decluttering of first floor complete.

Upgrade loading now.

I froze, confused. What did that mean? There was a pause, then movement in the corner of my vision forced me to look at my stamina and sanity. I watched as the bars lengthened. They still remained empty, but I realized what this meant. The more I cleaned my house, the more stamina and sanity I was able to hold.

“Yes, please,” I said.